Death on the Mediterranean

The three Ethiopian friends who survived more than two weeks adrift in the Mediterranean wander through Choucha Camp.

CHOUCHA CAMP, Tunisia, May 13 (UNHCR) – Bayisa* has suffered a lot in his short life, but nothing prepared him and his two friends, Gudissa* and Nagassa,* for the ordeal the three Ethiopian refugees faced, and barely survived, on the high seas between Libya and Italy.

During or after their failed attempt to reach Italy by boat, 63 of the 72 people on board died agonizing deaths while passing vessels and helicopters allegedly failed to stop and rescue the boat people. And Bayisa is now back in North Africa.

The ethnic Oromo, gaunt-faced and extremely thin, spoke with his two friends to UNHCR on Thursday in the Choucha Camp that was set up near Tunisia's border with Libya to provide shelter for tens of thousands of migrant workers and refugees fleeing the civil war that erupted in Libya in mid-February.

Although the Oromo are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, they have suffered persecution at the hands of successive governments for decades. Bayisa said he fled to Sudan after his village was torched in 2007 by police, who accused his family of shepherds of helping anti-government rebels.

He reached Libya in January 2008 after a long journey and registered with the UNHCR office in Tripoli, to apply for asylum. But he said he was arrested in the streets of the capital and held for three months in a crowded cell because he had no ID.

Like other Africans from the sub-Sahara region, he also suffered from racist taunts and discrimination from Libyans. "When the war started in Libya in February, I got scared and stopped going out to look for a job," he said, adding: "The Libyan children were throwing stones at me in the streets, they were asking me for money and insulting me, telling me I was a black slave."

Bayisa and his two Oromo friends, Gudissa and Nagassa, decided to try and make their way to Europe across the Mediterranean. "A Sudanese neighbour told me that a boat would leave on March 25. He drove me and my two friends to the harbour at night. I paid US$800 to a Libyan smuggler," Bayisa revealed.

Those on board the 12-metre-long vessel included other Ethiopians, Eritreans, Nigerians, Sudanese and Ghanaians. Twenty of them were women and there were two children. They had paid to reach the island of Lampedusa, Italy's most southernmost territory, but they had to crew the boat themselves.

"We passed a big naval vessel, but they would not let us board. We also saw a military helicopter flying above us," said Bayisa, who could not identify which country these came from.

But the passengers were optimistic – until the boat ran out of fuel and started drifting back towards Libya. "A second helicopter flew above and threw biscuits and water at us. Then we passed another warship, but they just took pictures of us and left," Bayisa recalled.

Their ordeal was to last two weeks. The drinking water and food soon ran out and people started eating toothpaste and drinking seawater and even their own urine. "People died every day from dehydration, sunstroke, hunger . . . We kept the bodies for one or two days [before pushing them overboard], hoping to reach a coast and give them a proper burial. But sometimes we did not know if they were really dead or just in a coma," the young Ethiopian said.

"One Ethiopian woman died before her two-year-old baby. The boy was crying all the time, looking for his mother. He died three days later."

Bayisa thought he would die under the baking sun. Others lost their minds and at least four passengers committed suicide by jumping into the sea before the boat reached the Libyan coast near the town of Zlitan, east of Tripoli. There were just 11 of them left, but one woman died on the beach.

The remaining 10 men walked to Zlitan, where they were arrested by the Libyan police. They were taken to a hospital and then to a prison where they were given some water, milk and dates. After two days another survivor died.

Bayisa said they ended up in Tripoli's Twesha jail. "The hygiene was terrible, the lavatories were always blocked. In our weak state, we easily became sick," he said, adding that they only got out because an Ethiopian friend paid police US$900. Bayisa and his two friends took a taxi to the border and they crossed to Ras Adjir in Tunisia before being taken to Choucha on May 6.

The UN refugee agency is now providing the trio with assistance in Tunisia and is looking for a solution for them. "I want to ask for asylum; I cannot return to Ethiopia, I would be killed or arrested there," he stressed. "I just want to live in a country in peace, it does not matter where, but in peace"

A guide to principles and practice as applied to migrants and refugees.

Bonga Camp, Ethiopia

Bonga camp is located in the troubled Gambella region of western Ethiopia. But it remains untouched by the ethnic conflicts that have torn nearby Gambella town and Fugnido camp in the last year.

For Bonga's 17,000 Sudanese refugees, life goes on despite rumblings in the region. Refugee children continue with school and play while their parents make ends meet by supplementing UNHCR assistance with self-reliance projects.

Cultural life is not forgotten, with tribal ceremonies by the Uduk majority. Other ethnic communities  Shuluks, Nubas and Equatorians  are welcome too, judging by how well hundreds of newcomers have settled in after their transfer from Fugnido camp in late 2002.

Bonga Camp, Ethiopia

Crossing the Gulf of Aden

Every year thousands of people in the Horn of Africa - mainly Somalis and Ethiopians - leave their homes out of fear or pure despair, in search of safety or a better life. They make their way over dangerous Somali roads to Bossaso in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

In this lawless area, smuggler networks have free reign and innocent and desperate civilians pay up to US$150 to make the perilous trip across the Gulf of Aden.

Some stay weeks on end in safe houses or temporary homes in Bossaso before they can depart. A sudden call and a departure in the middle of the night, crammed in small unstable boats. At sea, anything can happen to them - they are at the whim of smugglers. Some people get beaten, stabbed, killed and thrown overboard. Others drown before arriving on the beaches of Yemen, which have become the burial ground for hundreds who many of those who died en route.

Crossing the Gulf of Aden

Drifting Towards Italy

Every year, Europe's favourite summer playground - the Mediterranean Sea - turns into a graveyard as hundreds of men, women and children drown in a desperate bid to reach European Union (EU) countries.

The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 290 kilometres off the coast of Libya. In 2006, some 18,000 people crossed this perilous stretch of sea - mostly on inflatable dinghies fitted with an outboard engine. Some were seeking employment, others wanted to reunite with family members and still others were fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence and had no choice but to leave through irregular routes in their search for safety.

Of those who made it to Lampedusa, some 6,000 claimed asylum. And nearly half of these were recognized as refugees or granted some form of protection by the Italian authorities.

In August 2007, the authorities in Lampedusa opened a new reception centre to ensure that people arriving by boat or rescued at sea are received in a dignified way and are provided with adequate accommodation and medical facilities.

Drifting Towards Italy

Italy: Survivors of the Sea Tragedy

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Italy: Ezadeen Cargo Ship Arrival

On January 3, the Ezadeen, a cargo ship, was found adrift in the Mediterranean and taken to Italy. It had been abandoned by its crew, with 350 refugees and others on board. Most were fleeing the war in Syria. Now, far from home, they must face many new challenges.

Ethiopia: Far From Home

Nyabuka Lam arrived in Pagak, Ethiopia in September after escaping armed men who shot her three children and husband back in her home country, South Sudan. After walking for 15 days to reach the safety of Pagak, she is now finally on a path to recovery.